Walking the Ancient Way of Asevon – Written by Konstantinos Kostouros6 min read

How guilty was Oedipus? Was Job only a man who became a toy in the hands of God? Did Christ promise to bring peace to the world? Do the gods “order” holy wars?

It is well known that people’s communities, from antiquity to today, in every difficult cycle of history, are attempting to recapture an ancient ritual of violence that will bring a candidate victim (or a group of victims) to the forefront. This scapegoat will carry all the “dysfunctions” of the community and, once it is “ritually sacrificed,” it will allow the whole to restart a “pure” new course.

On the 3rd, 10th, 17th and 21st of December 2018, the artistic and theatrical performance “Walking the Ancient Way of Ασεβών” will be presented at the Anglican Church of St. Paul in Athens.

The Walking the Ancient Way of Asevon draws its inspiration from the work of the French thinker and scholar René Girard. Girard, a writer, among others, of books The scapegoat and The Ancient Way of the Ασεβών, is a scholar who is very concerned with the issue of violence and the holy, as it appears over time and globally, in human communities.

Through art, this play is deals with a very dark story. Dark as deep as time and as old as man. It talks about culprits and victims, about ancient civilizations and modern societies, about anthropology and religion.

It talks about violence and how it manifests in the communities of people; about the idea of “holy” and how it shapes religions. Above all, however, it is trying in a particular and poetic way to draw attention to a global phenomenon. It tries to reveal why, wherever we travel on this earth, whichever historical period we study, we will encounter the phenomenon of the “Scapegoat”.

The Walking the Ancient Way of Asevon has as its starting point a connection that René Girard first made through his writings. It reconstructs the stories of Oedipus, Job and Jesus through ancient texts in Modern Greek to illuminate the different paths that these three took when they were at the most crucial moment of their life, they were accused of blasphemy against their community and threatened with extinction. The first one accepted it, the second resisted, while the third was ritually sacrificed to show that victimization is the loose crutch that in the difficult moments keeps the societies upright.

Theater, painting, literature and music unite and create a work designed to touch everyone, whether they have little or much exposure to art. The aim is to ask questions in a timeless and ecumenical way and to reveal, once again, the truth we have known for at least two thousand years; that the victims are innocent.

Emphasis is given on the victimization function combined with the psychological and existential anxiety of the characters. Three performers appear on stage: “Dance” is the embodiment of the community. The “Witness” is a figure who, for the most part, is ambiguous; he draws his words from Oedipus, Job, and Jesus. The third person of the project is a rather ineffective “Paraclete“. He tries to stand up to the Witness, he realizes that the process is loose and would like to intervene, but he has neither the power nor the social legitimacy.

The play has as a basic component six paintings depicting female figures at almost natural size. These works are painted on metal sheets, a magnificent raw material for painting surfaces. Where the metal remains clean, it shines like a hagiography, whereas where it has been rusted it gets an orange and dark brown color, showing it as a remnant of our culture.

The purpose is painting to converse with text and theatrical action. These figures are the same but different. They have the same shape and the same garment, they are archetypal figures as members of “ancient dance”. It is the image of many that become one within the community. They are indifferent, surprised, overtaken, shocked, and flattered, depending on the moment. The actors interact with the paintings and they all become part of the same drama. The role of the painting surfaces is not decorative. It is the dialogue of the new with the old, the living with the dead and the living matter with the wear.

An equal part of the artistic partnership is sound and music. Here the sound does not function as a “carpet” for the theatrical act; it interferes, complements, selects and subverts the action. All this is live, within the Anglican Church of St. Paul, as the action evolves.

This important role in the project is undertaken by Sigmatropic, a musical figure that in 2018 is active for 20 years, passing between computer-based electronica and indie-rock.

We aspire to create a great artistic play with high expectations and using raw materials. The ideas that deal with the project are neither simple nor easy. The associations and conclusions of the above considerations may have imperfections or someone to disagree with them. But that is the only reason anyone has to continue to produce art today, the showdown with the important and the great.

Konstantinos Kostouros

He studied at the School of Fine Arts in Athens. He teaches painting and history of art.

Read more about Konstantinos Kostouros:

Konstantinos Kostouros was born on Piraeus at 1974. He studied at the School of Fine Arts in Athens where he graduatted on 1999 από όπου αποφοίτησε το 1999 having studied Painting and Engraving.

In 2004 he presented his first solo painting exhibition entitled “KOAN” in the Art Gallery “Expression” and until 2014 he participated in group exhibitions with paintings, constructions and installations in Greece and abroad.

In 2014, he presented the Art-Theatrical Event “How It is to Return” in the Art Gallery “Fokionos Negri 16” (the space of presentation of the art collector Sotiris Felios). In 2016 he presented the Art-Theatrical Event “Around Fire” at the “V. & M. Theocharakis” Fine Arts and Music Foundation, while in 2018 the event entitled ” Walking the Ancient Way of Asevon” is presented in his Anglican church Ag. Paul in Athens.

He teaches painting and history of art. Since 2011, he has given lectures and collaborated with the Catherine Laskaridis Foundation as a lecturer in educational programs dealing with art and aesthetics for high school and lyceum children. Samples of work, art-related artwork, and contact details are available at www.kostouros.net.

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